Heart disease Flashcards
What carries nutrients (glucose) and oxygen to the heart?
The coronary arteries carry nutrients and oxygen to the heart.
What causes a heart attack?
A heart attack occurs when the coronary arteries become blocked.
What could a person experience if a coronary artery is blocked?
They could experience chest pains. This is known as angina.
What is cholesterol?
It is a fatty substance
Why is cholesterol bad for you?
it is a fatty substance that can stick to the walls of the artery. The arteries become narrower and the blood flow slows down. Cholesterol also makes the walls of arteries rough.
What is a thrombosis?
This is when there is a lot of cholesterol build up in the arteries which causes a blood clot to form. The artery can become completely blocked.
Why is it bad if an artery becomes blocked?
The blood flow is stopped and the heart muscle dies.
What causes a stroke .
Sometimes little pieces of cholesterol can break off and travel to different parts of the body. If it gets lodged in the very narrow arteries of the brain it will cause a stroke.
What can happen to a person if they have a stroke?
Strokes cause brain cell damage and a person may be paralyzed as a result of a stroke
What is hypertension (high blood pressure)
This is when the thickness of walls increase, which means the heart has to pump harder in order to pump the same amount of blood that the body needs.
What does high blood pressure damage.
It puts your heart under severe stress and can seriously damage you arteries.
What are the cause of hypertension?
- stress
- poor diet
- alchohol use
- smoking
- overweight
- too much caffeine
- too much salt
What are some of the risks of having high blood pressure?
It increases your risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney disease.
What can one do to try and prevent high blood pressure?
- cut out fatty foods
- cut out added sugars
- decrease stress levels
- reduce salt intake
- don’t smoke
- eat more fruits
- eat more vegetables
- eat lean proteins
- increase fiber intake
- increase exercise
what effect does smoking have on the heart?
- increases heart rate
- increase blood pressure
- narrows blood vessels
